I've included this section because I feel it's the most important part of psychic/spiritual development and is often overlooked and neglected as part of development. The negative side of development should be made aware of too. This section is not intended to frighten you or put you off development, I'm just being honest and feel these things should be made aware of.
There are two sides to everything in life good and bad and the same goes for the spirit world, when pass over we don't suddenly become all holy and angelic, our personalities stay pretty much the same, if we were jokers and loved to play tricks on the earth plane then chances are when we pass over we will continue to do this for a while, playing tricks with people on the earth plane. Although some spirit people who play tricks are not always jokers, most cases are spirit people just trying to make you aware of them, most commonly objects being moved or disappearing altogether, only to turn up a few days later somewhere else.
When we start to develop we start to open ourselves to all kinds of energies and it's important to protect ourselves before any psychic/spiritual activates and close down after any psychic/spiritual activities to keep us balanced. When developing our auras become brighter and spirit see this brightness and are attracted to it, just like moths around a light bulb. If we don't close down we may experience all kinds of emotional problems, the most common are anxiety, depression and feeling drained.
People seem to think that spirit will physically hurt you, well they can but it's very, very rare, the protection is not really for that reason, protection is more for your own sanity, if a low vibration spirit gets too close it can effect your thoughts, and if this this is a negative spirit it can make you feel depressed and give you suicidal thoughts, not all negative spirits can make you feel this way though, people who have often taken their own life can make you feel this way too and this is where the danger lies and why protection is important in my opinion.